Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee

“ [342] in getting troops into position for attack on the 3d; on the 3d of June we again assaulted the enemy's work in the hope of driving him from his position. In this attempt our loss was heavy while that of the enemy, I have reason to believe, was comparatively light.”

This remarkable assault deserves more attention than the brief statement in which Grant disposes of it. Its isolation on the pages of history as the most extraordinary blunder in military annals will alone make it famous. Nearly all of the one hundred and thirteen thousand troops then at Cold Harbor, in double lines of battle six miles long, sprang to arms at half-past 4 on the morning of the 3d, and, in obedience to the customary order “to attack along the whole line,” assailed the army of Lee and were terribly slaughtered at every point. There has been no instance of such destructive firing attended with such small loss to the men who were shooting from stationary lines. The troops went forward, said Hancock, “as far as the example of their officers could carry them” ; but that was not far, for eight or ten minutes was the time of actual advancesixty minutes of battle from first to last. Grant seemed willing to submit everything to the “nice hazard of a doubtful hour.” Death and destruction everywhere enveloped charging columns, and direct and cross fires tore them to pieces. Lee's men were hungry and mad: three hard biscuits and one piece of fat pork were all the rations many had obtained since leaving the North Anna, and the pork was eaten raw because cooking involved waste. One cracker to a man, with no meat, became a luxury, and the lament of a poor fellow who had his shot out of his hand before he could eat it was ludicrous: “The next time I'll put my cracker in a safe place down by the breastworks where it won't get wounded, poor thing!” said he.

In front of the Confederate defenses the scene was heartrending. The ground was strewn with the dead, dying, and wounded Federals, and yet at 8 A. M. an order came from the chief of staff of the Army of the Potomac for the corps to assault again, each without reference to the other's advance. It is known that “Baldy” Smith positively refused to obey it, while some of the other